How To Get Perfectly Straight French Tips ♥

I love a nice, neat French manicure. I think everyone probably does, but it chips so quickly and always costs extra when you get them done. It's a total waste to get them done at the nail place (if you're getting your natural nails done) so I've been working on the best way to do them at home. I started with the Sally Hansen French Manicure pen. That works pretty well as long as you take your time, and don't look too close up because it'll NEVER be perfectly straight. It's definitely quicker than any other method, and pretty much gets the job done.

In this French I used the most typical colors - nude/pinkish with white tips, but this works for any combination colors, of course. I did a mint and glittery emerald combo for St. Patrick's Day and my sister likes her neon pink tips - so to each her own!

My base coat was Essie It's in the Bag, the tips were Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and I used a Revlon top coat. I painted my nails the Essie color two days ago, and when I was ready to change it up I realized it would make the perfect base color for a French, so my nails had a long time to dry. I'm not sure how long it would take if you wanted to do this all in the same day - probably hours, so maybe consider doing this as a nail change up as opposed to all at once.

I put regular old Scotch tape across each nail leaving just the perfect amount of nail exposed at the end for my tips. The amount of space left untaped is totally up to you; if you like it smaller then do it smaller, if you like it bigger and chunkier then go for it! Just make sure you don't leave any tape bubbles! If you have little gaps between the tape and your nails, the white polish will seep under and ruin the whole thing.

Then I painted two coats of the white on the ends of my nails and let it dry for about 20-25 minutes. It was not fun having tape on my hands for that long, but I took one piece of tape off after 12 minutes to check, and the white was still too tacky. The longer you wait, the better. Then just top it off with a clear, shiny top coat, and you're good to go! Hope yours comes out as nicely as mine did, and I hope this helps! BBS! xoxo


P.S. - Another little tip I find helpful is to spray some regular, unflavored Pam (or probably any cooking spray) on your nails after you're done to dry them quickly. It'll be a little oily feeling, but you can rinse it right off, and it'll make your cuticles softer ;)